Yemen says will take most Yemeni Guantanamo inmates

SANAA, May 28 (Reuters) - Yemen said it had agreed with the United States to take back most of the remaining Yemeni inmates held at the Guantanamo Bay detention camp in Cuba.

''There are continuous talks with the Americans to hand over the Yemenis in Guantanamo to the Yemeni government,'' a senior official told Reuters, yesterday. He did not say how many prisoners would be released or when.

Officials said President Ali Abdullah Saleh discussed the issue with US officials during his visit to Washington earlier this month.

Five American lawyers visiting Yemen said there were 100 Yemeni prisoners in Guantanamo Bay. Eight Yemenis have been released and seven were approved for repatriation four months ago, lawyer Martha Rayner told a news conference in Sanaa.

Last year, Yemen called for an investigation into the death of a Yemeni detainee at Guantanamo Bay who the US military said had committed suicide.

US President George W Bush is under intense pressure to shut down the prison, where 385 detainees are being held. Many human rights watchdogs say the prison is illegal because detainees are being held there without charge.

Washington started sending suspected al Qaeda and Taliban captives there in 2002.

Yemen, the ancestral homeland of al Qaeda leader Osama bin Lade, joined the US-led ''war on terror'' after the Sept 11 attacks on US cities.

REUTERS CS SBA PM5000